Jenelle Jones knows just how cold, dark and disconcerting camping at Presquile National Wildlife Refuge can be.

"It was scary, but it was fun at the same time," she said early yesterday after spending her first night in a tent.

The seventh-grader at Albert Hill Middle School and eight other Richmond youths spent the weekend on the 1,329-acre island in the James River, about 20 miles south of Richmond, as part of a new program designed to reconnect youths with the outdoors.

The James River Association launched The Reunion program with a campout last month with the hope of teaching youths to appreciate nature and to be good stewards of the environment. Three more trips are planned for the spring.

"We're raising the first generation of children that are really not growing up outside," said Bill Street, executive director of the environmental-advocacy group.

He said video games, homework, a loss of open space and other factors are keeping youths inside and contributing to increases in childhood obesity, stress and hyperactivity.

For this weekend's campout -- by special permit during a time the refuge is normally closed -- the James River Association, in partnership with the William Byrd Community House, enlisted nine inexperienced campers, plus a chaperone who had slept in a tent once since she was in the Girl Scouts.

Early yesterday, as a flock of Canada geese flew overhead, the campers huddled around picnic tables for a breakfast of fried eggs, bacon, English muffins and fruit salad.

William Moore, an eighth-grader at Binford Middle School, said he was having fun but admitted that he missed playing video games and watching television.

"It was a whole new experience because it was outside," he said of sleeping in a tent.

The campers talked about the frigid temperatures, which had dropped into the mid-30s before sunrise, and the previous night's activities. They included one designed to help campers confront their fears of the dark in the wild.

In the "trust walk," the campers would leave the group one by one and venture into the darkness until they reached leader Heather Murdoch, who was standing silently about 50 to 75 yards away.

The activity got a rocky start when a deer or other animal moved in the nearby woods, spooking the group, said Murdoch, education coordinator for the James River Association. All but one of the campers was able to complete the walk alone.

"It was very scary," said Keonna Knight, a sixth-grader at Binford. "I was imagining somebody attacking me."

The group also sought to see what nighttime critters they could attract by using a paint brush to apply a fermented mixture of beer; squashed, old bananas; and sugar to a tree trunk.

Murdoch said the stinky "moth malt" works best on warm, humid nights, but the weekend's application was successful in attracting a few spiders and camelback crickets.

"I hate those things," said Chris Calloway, a seventh-grader at Albert Hill.

Jessica Johnson, who helped chaperone the campout as a program coordinator at the William Byrd Community House, said she hoped the outing would help the youths experience nature in a new way and appreciate "that there's more to life than video games."

But even in the wilderness, she found that's no easy task.

Chris managed to get in a video-game fix by pulling out his battery-powered Game Boy system.

"I can't help it," he told Murdoch. "My mother packed it."

After breakfast, Murdoch led the group on a hike across the island. She stopped a few times, pointing out a groundhog and its habitat, deer tracks and a turkey feather. Standing by the river, she noted the debris floating by and talked about pollution.

"It's a voluntary trip, so you can't be too 'schooly' about it," Murdoch said later. "You've got to work with what you've got. The whole idea is to make it fun. If you don't, then they have a negative attitude about the outdoors."

Afterward, she recorded video of the campers as she asked their impressions of the weekend. Most said they had fun and would participate again, although some requested warmer weather and at least one clean portable toilet.

Murdoch said she is encouraged by the feedback and won't be surprised if the negative reviews soften over time.

"The best indicator will be when they go back and tell their peers about it," she said.

Je'Briesha Craddock, a seventh-grader at Binford, summed up the campout as a fun "freeze-your-butt-off experience."

Her schoolmate Keonna provided the ultimate endorsement:

"This is the greatest camping trip ever."

Contact Will Jones at (804) 649-6911 or wjones@timesdispatch.com

HOPEWELL -- The James River just got a checkup, and the patient looked pretty healthy.

Thank the drought.

"For water quality, yeah, it's good," said Chuck Frederickson, as he ran a series of water tests Friday aboard his boat just upriver from Hopewell.

With little rain to wash fertilizers and other pollution into the river, the James now is generally clearer and richer in oxygen than normal, Frederickson said.

"The question now is: How do we keep the water quality up at these levels when it does rain?"

Frederickson is the James' riverkeeper -- part scientist, part educator. He works for the James River Association, an environmental group.

On Wednesday through Friday, Frederickson and volunteers conducted a three-day checkup of the James. Frederickson performed tests for such measures of river health as clarity, dissolved oxygen, temperature and chlorophyll, which indicates the presence of algae.

By truck and by boat, he checked nearly 200 miles of the 340-mile river, from rural Bent Creek near Lynchburg to industrialized Newport News.

Frederickson worked Friday from just above the Osborne Landing in eastern Henrico County to a spot near the Herring Creek in Charles City County.

Near the landing, after performing various tests using electronic sensors, Frederickson dropped into the river a black-and-white disk that gauges clarity. When it disappears, you measure the distance to the surface.

"This is my favorite tool," he said. "It's low-tech."

The water was clear for about 3 feet, about twice the average for that spot during the wet summer of 2003.

Clear water allows sunlight to penetrate deeper, fostering the growth of river grasses that fish need to hide in.

In the James above Richmond, Frederickson found spots where the river was clear for 6 to 7 feet. He also found some new grasses growing, a great sign for the James.

Natural waters are complicated, however, and in some ways the drought has hurt the James.

Aboard Frederickson's boat Friday were Virginia Commonwealth University biologist Paul Bukaveckas and graduate students Brent Lederer and Matt Beckwith.

They are studying the relationship of nutrients such as nitrogen to troublesome algae. The nutrients, from sewage-treatment plants and other sources, nourish the algae.

At Hopewell, the James becomes wider and shallower. That allows more light to get to the algae, helping them grow. That's bad because the algae take oxygen from the river when they die.

Dry weather means a lower flow of fresh water that would flush out the nutrients. For that reason, there has been considerable algae growth around Hopewell.

"The river did become more clear during the summer," Bukaveckas said, "but it was not as clear as it should have been, because of the algae."

The algae growth around Hopewell did not create much of a stir because it was not as visible -- in part because of the type of algae -- as some well-publicized outbreaks this summer in streams near the coast.

As Frederickson, Bukaveckas and the students worked the James, the river looked its best. A bald eagle flew by, and egrets stood like delicate white statues in the shallows. A VCU scientist in another boat showed off the remains of a sturgeon, killed by a boat, that was at least 9 feet long.

The James is coming back from years of abuse, but more needs be done, particularly to fight pollution that washes in during rains, Frederickson said.

A few minutes later, a light rain began to fall.

Contact Rex Springston at (804) 649-6453 or rspringston@timesdispatch.com

We have done only half of what's needed to make the James River healthy, a new report says.

The James River Association, an environmental group, released the "State of the James River 2007" report yesterday.

The report calculated that a decades-long restoration of the James is 52 percent complete.

GOOD NEWS

The state has done a lot to reduce pollution from sewage-treatment plants and factories, the report said.

BAD NEWS

Much more must be done to reduce polluted storm-water runoff from farms, yards and streets. The runoff carries waste and soil that foul the river.

A CRITICAL MOMENT

"The James River is at a tipping point," said Bill Street, the river group's director. "Without strong and continued action, the mighty James will once again fall into decline."

WHAT YOU CAN DO

Limit the amount of fertilizer you use on yards. Also, use rain barrels and water-absorbing gardens to reduce runoff from your yard.

WHAT GOVERNMENT CAN DO

Provide more money for programs that limit polluted runoff, and allow developers to build in ways -- less asphalt in parking lots, for example -- that limit runoff.

RIVER INDICATORS

Here are scores for some river-health indicators listed in the report. The percentages represent progress toward restoration goals.